Nine killed in church in suspected hate crime.

Nine people have been killed in a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston in the US state of South Carolina.

According to a South Carolina police chief ,Gregory Mullen eight of the victims were killed inside the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Thursday while another person died shortly afterwards.

Police are now said to be searching for a white male suspect in his 20s believed to have carried out his heinous crime based on hatred.

The suspect was thought to have taken the opportunity of a meeting going on at the time of the incident at the church situated on 110 Calhoun Street.

Charleston police,reports have claimed ,wrote in a tweet that “Suspect in the shooting on Calhoun Street is a w/m approx 21 slender small build wearing a grey sweat shirt blue jeans timberland boots clean shaven.”

The 19th Century Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is one of the oldest in the US.